(Previous years' pictures here and here.)
Back To School Night - Germantown Hills, IL (2016)
10 years ago
Wednesday, December 30, 2015
A Belated Merry Christmas 2015
We hope everyone's Christmas was filled with light and joy and surrounded by loved ones!
(Previous years' pictures here and here.)
(Previous years' pictures here and here.)
Saturday, December 12, 2015
November Iphone Recap (Part 1)
So the big kids and I have been working hard getting Christmas cards ready and in the mail this week. Today the last big stack of them went to the mailbox, hooray! I know there will be a few stragglers, but for the most part we are done. But I realized that in the note on the back of the card, I give the blog address and say that "Katie tries to update the blog a couple times a month." Since its almost been a full month since I've posted anything, I made myself take 30 minutes today to get something up (though it actually took 45 before I hit publish). Here we go!
Just like his sister before him (maybe Nathan too, but Brian and I just clearly remember Sarah doing this), Andrew is enthralled with the dishwasher. Which presents some logistical challenges since I usually do three loads a day. He usually doesn't climb up and stand on the dishwasher like this, but we do always have to pull out the utensil caddy so he doesn't get a sharp knife and we try to keep the door closed when there are dirty dishes so that he's not playing in the leftover food remnants - yuck!
Sarah got her first Lego set for her birthday, a little car from Aunt Karen. Nathan enthusiastically helped her with the directions so she could put it together.
Trouble, right here! (Notice the pop-sickle stick... of course after I bought a whole pack of them from the craft store they somewhat lost their appeal.)
A typical scene from homeschooling these days. Nathan and Sarah do their work on our old console table to try and keep it away from Andrew, while Andrew desperately tries to grab their pencils/crayons/papers anyway.
Some friends from church gave Brian and me tickets to the Vols homecoming game, so we gladly dropped the kids off at Nana and Granddad's house for the afternoon. We were a bit concerned about how Andrew would do since it was in the midst of his teething grumpy/fussy/ANGRY phase, but he took a good nap and ended up doing great. We had a good time, but ended up overdressed for our seats in the sun!
These are the weird knobs on our master bedroom furniture that all the kids (especially Sarah and Andrew) have found enormously entertaining. In fact, Brian and I used to joke "Sarah's been here!" when all the pulls were pushed up instead of down. But I finally couldn't stand the things anymore and replaced them, but not before taking this one last picture to commemorate all the fun they gave the kids.
The three kids and I try to drop by Grandmother's house for a visit a couple times a month, and Andrew is just in love with her. This day he just went right to her and grinned as I pulled out the phone for a picture. How sweet!
Nathan's Mozart poster for school, which I talked about in greater detail in another post.
Like I said, TROUBLE! Andrew's the first of our kids that has been into the toilet-paper unrolling. We have to keep all the bathroom doors closed now to keep him under control.
The big kids were digging holes in the woods in our side yard, and Andrew decided to blaze a trail through the leaves and brush to join them... except he didn't stop near his siblings but just decided to just keep on going! There is just no stopping him!
This is my typical view at some point during the day, either as I'm trying to get a meal on the table or trying to clean up before nap or bedtime.
Just like his sister before him (maybe Nathan too, but Brian and I just clearly remember Sarah doing this), Andrew is enthralled with the dishwasher. Which presents some logistical challenges since I usually do three loads a day. He usually doesn't climb up and stand on the dishwasher like this, but we do always have to pull out the utensil caddy so he doesn't get a sharp knife and we try to keep the door closed when there are dirty dishes so that he's not playing in the leftover food remnants - yuck!
Sarah got her first Lego set for her birthday, a little car from Aunt Karen. Nathan enthusiastically helped her with the directions so she could put it together.
Trouble, right here! (Notice the pop-sickle stick... of course after I bought a whole pack of them from the craft store they somewhat lost their appeal.)
A typical scene from homeschooling these days. Nathan and Sarah do their work on our old console table to try and keep it away from Andrew, while Andrew desperately tries to grab their pencils/crayons/papers anyway.
Some friends from church gave Brian and me tickets to the Vols homecoming game, so we gladly dropped the kids off at Nana and Granddad's house for the afternoon. We were a bit concerned about how Andrew would do since it was in the midst of his teething grumpy/fussy/ANGRY phase, but he took a good nap and ended up doing great. We had a good time, but ended up overdressed for our seats in the sun!
These are the weird knobs on our master bedroom furniture that all the kids (especially Sarah and Andrew) have found enormously entertaining. In fact, Brian and I used to joke "Sarah's been here!" when all the pulls were pushed up instead of down. But I finally couldn't stand the things anymore and replaced them, but not before taking this one last picture to commemorate all the fun they gave the kids.
The three kids and I try to drop by Grandmother's house for a visit a couple times a month, and Andrew is just in love with her. This day he just went right to her and grinned as I pulled out the phone for a picture. How sweet!
Nathan's Mozart poster for school, which I talked about in greater detail in another post.
Like I said, TROUBLE! Andrew's the first of our kids that has been into the toilet-paper unrolling. We have to keep all the bathroom doors closed now to keep him under control.
The big kids were digging holes in the woods in our side yard, and Andrew decided to blaze a trail through the leaves and brush to join them... except he didn't stop near his siblings but just decided to just keep on going! There is just no stopping him!
This is my typical view at some point during the day, either as I'm trying to get a meal on the table or trying to clean up before nap or bedtime.
When Nathan was writing his thank you notes for his birthday presents, he made sure we got one too. So sweet!
Friday, November 13, 2015
Our "New" House
It just took us four months to get a picture in front of our new house, but at least we managed it while Andrew was still a baby! I think it will be fun to continue the yearly family pictures in front of our house, to document our growing kiddos as well as the changes to the house, since we hope to stay here quite a while. Its been fun to look back at pictures to remember our old houses and see how the family's grown (moving out of our last house, goodbye Boston and hello Knoxville, Boston beginnings and Winston-Salem)
Wednesday, November 11, 2015
Snapshot Of Life (October 2015, Part 2)
I drafted this post back in October before the birthday/Halloween crazyness hit in full force, and now I'm finally getting around to fleshing out the stories and posting...
Nathan
Nathan has been keeping track of what number spot he is in the school pick up line (the possible numbers are 1-6). He was reminding me today that he's never been #6 and that he hopes that he's never #6 all the way up until twelfth grade and then he'll tell Ms. Jones... Then he trailed off and told me "never mind". I guess he realized that Ms. Jones wouldn't be his teacher when he finally makes it to 12th grade. (I think it was the next week that he finally was in the #6 spot. But he took the crushing of his ambition well!)
Nathan's always been so interested in the weather, wanting to check the weather on my phone and reporting the current temperature for Knoxville, Boston and California (I can't remember if that started in Boston or not until we came to Knoxville). Also when there's a chance of rain, he will read me the percentage chance of rain by the hour. So this week his unit study in school was the weather and he was about the most excited he's ever been to do his school work.
The next week Nathan's unit study was about musical composers, in preparation for his class going to the symphony. He was super pumped about the assignment to create a poster about a composer with their picture and five facts about them. At first he was telling me about two composers that he had been learning about in music class, and I couldn't understand the names he was saying. But he was insistent and finally I googled "famous composers" and started reading names to him and sure enough he had been learning about some more recent composers that I was not familiar with! But for his project we decided to pick Mozart since we already knew a bit about him from the Magic Tree Hose books and some other "music and story" cds that we had listened to (Mozart's Magic Fantasy: A Journey Through 'The Magic Flute' and Mozart's Magnificent Voyage). The project was assigned to be completed over two days of homeschool, but he was so excited about it that he worked all afternoon to finish copying the five facts onto his poster. Then after he went to the concert he came back talking about the musical pieces by name!
For fall break, Nathan had the whole week off while Sarah only had Monday off of school. So on Wednesday we had a rare day where Nathan was running errands with me but without Sarah. He had some money in his wallet (probably mostly collected out of Daddy's change bowl), and had counted it that morning and told me he had three dollars and asked if he could buy something for himself and Sarah at the store. I reluctantly said ok (because with that amount of money all he was going to bring home was junk!), but he found two things for himself and one for Sarah from the Target dollar spot. It was so sweet - Sarah had a wand that had gotten broken by a friend during one of our small group nights, so he found a replacement one for her. But when it was time to pay he came up very short on money (I was already planning on paying the tax but he was still way short). I asked him to count out his money on the counter so I could help him, and he put down two quarters and a dime and called it a dollar. After a minute it hit me - he thought 60 cents was a dollar, just like 60 minutes is an hour! So I handed him an extra dollar bill to make up the difference. So funny to me!
Sarah
Sarah's started to really be into hanging her dresses on hangers, and since she can't easily reach the bar in her closet (she has a stool, but installing a lower rod is on our to do list), she has started hanging her clothes on the tension rod that's used to hold up the fabric for her "secret hiding place". And the amazing thing I noticed is that all her hangers were pointing the same direction. That's my kind of girl!
Last time I did one of these posts I wrote about how we have a ritual at naps and bed where I make the bed over her and then we give each other Eskimo kisses. But then she decided she also wanted to give me "forehead kisses" where we rub our foreheads together.
I was texting one of Sarah's preschool teachers about cookies for a class party (always gotta be careful of those pesky peanuts!), but during the conversation she sent this message: "We adore her! If you have any thoughts of adding school days to her schedule, we will cheer - with pompons!!!". I thought that was so sweet and made me happy that she acts in such a way that they would love more time with her.
Andrew
Andrew loves his new mobility! Some of his favorite things to do upstairs when he has free reign is to play with the door bumpers on the wall of his room. They are the spring-style kind, and he'll hit at them and they'll "boing" and swing around. He also loves playing at the return air vent, which makes cool noises when he bangs on it and runs his hands over it. Unfortunately it is missing one of the screw-things that secures it at the top, so more then once its fallen and bumped him on the head! (Securing the vent properly is also on the to-do list.)
Two bottom teeth are finally in and back to two naps a day - hooray!! (This is what I wrote sometime back in mid-October. Now Andrew is solidly in a one-nap-a-day routine and has been for 2-3 weeks. At nine months he can make it through the day on one sometimes-crummy nap?!? Crazy I tell you!)
The other morning I was emptying the clean dishes from the dishwasher and was thinking to myself, "Now that Andrew's mobile and loves to pull up on the dishwasher, I probably need to be careful about what he can pull out of the utensil tray." Then I glance over at the dishwasher just in time to see him pull out a steak knife and swig it around over his head (the motion reminded me exactly of someone unsheathing a sword and waving it around threateningly). I leapt over to him and immediately grabbed the knife from his hand! Since then I've gotten a lot better about putting the utensil caddy on the counter whenever the dishwasher's open.
Nathan
Nathan has been keeping track of what number spot he is in the school pick up line (the possible numbers are 1-6). He was reminding me today that he's never been #6 and that he hopes that he's never #6 all the way up until twelfth grade and then he'll tell Ms. Jones... Then he trailed off and told me "never mind". I guess he realized that Ms. Jones wouldn't be his teacher when he finally makes it to 12th grade. (I think it was the next week that he finally was in the #6 spot. But he took the crushing of his ambition well!)
Nathan's always been so interested in the weather, wanting to check the weather on my phone and reporting the current temperature for Knoxville, Boston and California (I can't remember if that started in Boston or not until we came to Knoxville). Also when there's a chance of rain, he will read me the percentage chance of rain by the hour. So this week his unit study in school was the weather and he was about the most excited he's ever been to do his school work.
The next week Nathan's unit study was about musical composers, in preparation for his class going to the symphony. He was super pumped about the assignment to create a poster about a composer with their picture and five facts about them. At first he was telling me about two composers that he had been learning about in music class, and I couldn't understand the names he was saying. But he was insistent and finally I googled "famous composers" and started reading names to him and sure enough he had been learning about some more recent composers that I was not familiar with! But for his project we decided to pick Mozart since we already knew a bit about him from the Magic Tree Hose books and some other "music and story" cds that we had listened to (Mozart's Magic Fantasy: A Journey Through 'The Magic Flute' and Mozart's Magnificent Voyage). The project was assigned to be completed over two days of homeschool, but he was so excited about it that he worked all afternoon to finish copying the five facts onto his poster. Then after he went to the concert he came back talking about the musical pieces by name!
For fall break, Nathan had the whole week off while Sarah only had Monday off of school. So on Wednesday we had a rare day where Nathan was running errands with me but without Sarah. He had some money in his wallet (probably mostly collected out of Daddy's change bowl), and had counted it that morning and told me he had three dollars and asked if he could buy something for himself and Sarah at the store. I reluctantly said ok (because with that amount of money all he was going to bring home was junk!), but he found two things for himself and one for Sarah from the Target dollar spot. It was so sweet - Sarah had a wand that had gotten broken by a friend during one of our small group nights, so he found a replacement one for her. But when it was time to pay he came up very short on money (I was already planning on paying the tax but he was still way short). I asked him to count out his money on the counter so I could help him, and he put down two quarters and a dime and called it a dollar. After a minute it hit me - he thought 60 cents was a dollar, just like 60 minutes is an hour! So I handed him an extra dollar bill to make up the difference. So funny to me!
Sarah
Sarah's started to really be into hanging her dresses on hangers, and since she can't easily reach the bar in her closet (she has a stool, but installing a lower rod is on our to do list), she has started hanging her clothes on the tension rod that's used to hold up the fabric for her "secret hiding place". And the amazing thing I noticed is that all her hangers were pointing the same direction. That's my kind of girl!
Last time I did one of these posts I wrote about how we have a ritual at naps and bed where I make the bed over her and then we give each other Eskimo kisses. But then she decided she also wanted to give me "forehead kisses" where we rub our foreheads together.
I was texting one of Sarah's preschool teachers about cookies for a class party (always gotta be careful of those pesky peanuts!), but during the conversation she sent this message: "We adore her! If you have any thoughts of adding school days to her schedule, we will cheer - with pompons!!!". I thought that was so sweet and made me happy that she acts in such a way that they would love more time with her.
Andrew
Andrew loves his new mobility! Some of his favorite things to do upstairs when he has free reign is to play with the door bumpers on the wall of his room. They are the spring-style kind, and he'll hit at them and they'll "boing" and swing around. He also loves playing at the return air vent, which makes cool noises when he bangs on it and runs his hands over it. Unfortunately it is missing one of the screw-things that secures it at the top, so more then once its fallen and bumped him on the head! (Securing the vent properly is also on the to-do list.)
Two bottom teeth are finally in and back to two naps a day - hooray!! (This is what I wrote sometime back in mid-October. Now Andrew is solidly in a one-nap-a-day routine and has been for 2-3 weeks. At nine months he can make it through the day on one sometimes-crummy nap?!? Crazy I tell you!)
The other morning I was emptying the clean dishes from the dishwasher and was thinking to myself, "Now that Andrew's mobile and loves to pull up on the dishwasher, I probably need to be careful about what he can pull out of the utensil tray." Then I glance over at the dishwasher just in time to see him pull out a steak knife and swig it around over his head (the motion reminded me exactly of someone unsheathing a sword and waving it around threateningly). I leapt over to him and immediately grabbed the knife from his hand! Since then I've gotten a lot better about putting the utensil caddy on the counter whenever the dishwasher's open.
Saturday, November 7, 2015
A Happy Joint Birthday Party
Yes, things have been slow on the blog lately. I've been feeling overwhelmed, tired and generally "blech" the past few weeks. And also super busy with life and commitments. Andrew's been sleeping poorly at night and naps and is teething, Brian's been having to work more, and we've been through a rough patch with homeschooling that leaves me drained every Tuesday/Thursday. So the blog is one of my "commitments" that just gets sacrificed during these rough times!
I'm skipping over lots of important happenings to post these pictures from today, but I got them sorted and edited and if I wait nothing may ever get done on this blog...
Its birthday season for the extended Kornrumpf family! Last year we just did birthday dinners with the family for each kid and called that good, but this year (Nathan especially) really wanted to have a party with friends. Specifically his school friends, but the school has a policy that you have to invite the whole class. Brian and I were feeling somewhat Scrooge-like about this idea, just because the kids' birthdays are so close together, we'd want to do for Sarah what we do for Nathan, and it would be in addition to the family birthday dinners. So we proposed a joint friend birthday party with four families from church, which turned out to be the winning idea!
The party was pretty low-key. I was frantically googling "easy party games for kids" this morning, but was coming up blank. It turned out great, however, when one of the boys found some balloons in the hall (they were intended to decorate the mailbox, but that didn't happen), then Nathan asked for another balloon, and within a minute I was surrounded by a gaggle of kids begging for balloons. I blew up two balloons per kid and then escaped to the room where the adults were hanging out and let the kids amuse themselves. It worked beautifully!
The three girls...
Most of the boys...
I didn't get a picture of him, but Andrew pretty much spent he whole first half of the party in the rooms where the big kids were playing, just watching everyone and having a blast. He had gotten his hands on a crayon, which always makes him extraordinary cheerful since its contraband for him.
Then everyone ate lunch (hamburgers and hot dogs, cheetos and pretzels, carrots and applesauce).
Finally it was time for singing and blowing out candles. Nathan had been asking for DAYS who would get to blow out their candles first (him or Sarah) and I wouldn't ever give him an answer. We ended up singing to both kids together, then Sarah blew her candles out right away...
... and Nathan followed. They had agreed on chocolate cupcakes, with purple icing for Sarah and green for Nathan (which I just realized is the same color as their rooms!).
After all the sugar was devoured, we opened a few presents and called it a day. And a very happy day it was too!
I'm skipping over lots of important happenings to post these pictures from today, but I got them sorted and edited and if I wait nothing may ever get done on this blog...
Its birthday season for the extended Kornrumpf family! Last year we just did birthday dinners with the family for each kid and called that good, but this year (Nathan especially) really wanted to have a party with friends. Specifically his school friends, but the school has a policy that you have to invite the whole class. Brian and I were feeling somewhat Scrooge-like about this idea, just because the kids' birthdays are so close together, we'd want to do for Sarah what we do for Nathan, and it would be in addition to the family birthday dinners. So we proposed a joint friend birthday party with four families from church, which turned out to be the winning idea!
The party was pretty low-key. I was frantically googling "easy party games for kids" this morning, but was coming up blank. It turned out great, however, when one of the boys found some balloons in the hall (they were intended to decorate the mailbox, but that didn't happen), then Nathan asked for another balloon, and within a minute I was surrounded by a gaggle of kids begging for balloons. I blew up two balloons per kid and then escaped to the room where the adults were hanging out and let the kids amuse themselves. It worked beautifully!
The three girls...
Most of the boys...
I didn't get a picture of him, but Andrew pretty much spent he whole first half of the party in the rooms where the big kids were playing, just watching everyone and having a blast. He had gotten his hands on a crayon, which always makes him extraordinary cheerful since its contraband for him.
Then everyone ate lunch (hamburgers and hot dogs, cheetos and pretzels, carrots and applesauce).
Finally it was time for singing and blowing out candles. Nathan had been asking for DAYS who would get to blow out their candles first (him or Sarah) and I wouldn't ever give him an answer. We ended up singing to both kids together, then Sarah blew her candles out right away...
... and Nathan followed. They had agreed on chocolate cupcakes, with purple icing for Sarah and green for Nathan (which I just realized is the same color as their rooms!).
After all the sugar was devoured, we opened a few presents and called it a day. And a very happy day it was too!
Sunday, October 25, 2015
Two Pirates and a Princess
Halloween is almost here!! Just like last year, we started the fun early by attending Hardin Valley's Trick or Trunk. Before we left I decided to snap a picture of all three of them in costume, just to hedge my bets.
Nathan and Sarah had lots of fun with the inflatables again this year, although the giant slide was shunned in favor of the bounce houses. This may have been because they were both bigger and could hold their own better, or it could be because Gran and Pawpaw were stationed at two of the bounce houses as the adult supervisors. Andrew was adorable and cheerful, being passed between Daddy, Mommy and (mostly) Nana. There was cotton candy, hot dogs and chili to be eaten, candy to be gathered, and lots of friends to chat with. A fun fall Knoxville tradition for our family!
Nathan and Sarah had lots of fun with the inflatables again this year, although the giant slide was shunned in favor of the bounce houses. This may have been because they were both bigger and could hold their own better, or it could be because Gran and Pawpaw were stationed at two of the bounce houses as the adult supervisors. Andrew was adorable and cheerful, being passed between Daddy, Mommy and (mostly) Nana. There was cotton candy, hot dogs and chili to be eaten, candy to be gathered, and lots of friends to chat with. A fun fall Knoxville tradition for our family!
Tuesday, October 13, 2015
Four Generations!
We are so fortunate to be able to continue the tradition of "four generation" pictures of the women in my family. We have a couple from my childhood with my Great-Granny, and I'm thrilled that I have a daughter who also gets to have a wonderful relationship with her great-grandmother! We love you Grandmother!! Happy Early Birthday!!
Sunday, October 11, 2015
A Fall Evening's Pictures
We are taking family pictures later this month, but I decided to pull out the camera tonight to see if I could practice with the kids. Amazingly all three kids were in cooperative moods, so I got some really sweet sibling and individual pictures!
Friday, October 9, 2015
Snapshot of Life (October 2015)
Nathan
He is loving kindergarten, but struggling (some) with a good attitude during homeschool. We are now focusing on taking a few breaks and letting him choose the order for his work, which is helping out some. Brian also had a long chat with him and came up with the code "Your eyebrows are crooked" as a reminder for him to work on his attitude. Our new phrase seems to be working with both kids, but they seem to be taking it literally though Brian and I didn't mean it that way when we came up with it.
I have found out the best time to get Nathan to tell me details about his school day is at bedtime after lights are out. When I come in to kiss him goodnight, I lie down in bed with him and he'll tell me some things about his day. I love it!! I still don't feel like I know much about school, but it is fun having such grown-up conversations with him and I love how he looks forward to our chats just as much as I do.
Sarah
She woke up from nap the other day really sad because someone at school had brought in pumpkin-face cookies but she couldn't have any because they had peanuts in them (Brian had picked her up from school while I was out so this was the first I'd heard of it). She was so sad about it that I let her have a cookie for an after-nap snack. Come to find out from Brian at dinner, her teachers had given her Skittles since she couldn't have the cookie. I asked her "Sarah, why didn't you tell me about the Skittles?" And she gave me the sweetest smile and cocked her head at me and said "Because!".
Our new naptime/bedtime ritual is that I cover her up with the sheet and comforter, then try to smooth out and smash the "wrinkles" in the bed. Then I "discover" that its her under the covers, so I uncover her head and we give each other Eskimo kisses. The other night after our ritual, she sighed and said "I love Eskimo kisses!" and my heart almost burst with love and thankfulness for my sweet girl!
Andrew
His two bottom teeth are in, but the newest development is that he's back to fighting, fighting, fighting sleep. He doesn't want to go to sleep at naptime or bedtime. We are back to bouncing him to get him sleepy (thankfully I finally remembered to take the exercise ball to his room, so now I can bounce and sit which is much easier then standing), and doing the "bottom jiggle" to get him to sleep once he's in bed. But then he'll start to kick his legs which wakes him up, then up pops his head and then he's sitting up and wailing. I just remembered yesterday that I used to strap him into the carrier and bounce/walk him until he got tired - I need to try that again. He's also waking up in the night, but mostly will go back to sleep if its the middle of the night, but after 5:45ish, all bets are off. I try to not nurse him until after 5 am, which works out most nights. Andrew has also been biting on and off as he's been cutting his new teeth - OW! OW! OW!
He's crawling faster and faster these days, but the big kids' favorite trick is when he pulls up and then balances on his knees without holding onto anything. The big kids will clap for him when they notice him doing that.
In the car
We just finished up On the Banks of Plumb Creek by Laura Ingles Wilder (Book 3 of the series) and started On the Shores of Silver Lake.
Brian
On vacation this week. He started the week off with hanging curtain hardware in the kitchen, building the black cabinets for the family room entertainment wall and replacing the thermostats in the house. Granddad came over for the day to help him finish raising the garage door to accommodate the four post lift he ordered for the garage, then they started assembling the lift. The plan is to stack the Oldsmobile over the M5 so that I can get the van in the garage for winter. Nana came over as well to play with Sarah and put Andrew to sleep for me (she worked her magic for both naps and at bedtime!). He's also still trying to decide what he wants to do about the new garage - do we build an addition on the house or just go straight to a free-standing shop?
Katie
I'm feeling worn out because of Andrews current fussing/teething/sleeping situation, plus I'm not getting to bed early enough to account for all his night wakings and early mornings. But I did go out to lunch with Katie B and Robyn since Brian was off to keep the kids... I can't remember the last time I've done that! And today I got to run more errands while Nana was keeping Sarah and Andrew. My current "to do" list includes: hemming curtains in the family room and kitchen, Halloween costumes for the kids, figure out clothes for family pictures, decide what color to paint the powder room and the thrifted bench in family room, decide on a plan for new furniture and rug in the family room, catch up on photos and the blog, and figure out birthday plans/presents/parties/cards for the kids plus extended family.
He is loving kindergarten, but struggling (some) with a good attitude during homeschool. We are now focusing on taking a few breaks and letting him choose the order for his work, which is helping out some. Brian also had a long chat with him and came up with the code "Your eyebrows are crooked" as a reminder for him to work on his attitude. Our new phrase seems to be working with both kids, but they seem to be taking it literally though Brian and I didn't mean it that way when we came up with it.
I have found out the best time to get Nathan to tell me details about his school day is at bedtime after lights are out. When I come in to kiss him goodnight, I lie down in bed with him and he'll tell me some things about his day. I love it!! I still don't feel like I know much about school, but it is fun having such grown-up conversations with him and I love how he looks forward to our chats just as much as I do.
Sarah
She woke up from nap the other day really sad because someone at school had brought in pumpkin-face cookies but she couldn't have any because they had peanuts in them (Brian had picked her up from school while I was out so this was the first I'd heard of it). She was so sad about it that I let her have a cookie for an after-nap snack. Come to find out from Brian at dinner, her teachers had given her Skittles since she couldn't have the cookie. I asked her "Sarah, why didn't you tell me about the Skittles?" And she gave me the sweetest smile and cocked her head at me and said "Because!".
Our new naptime/bedtime ritual is that I cover her up with the sheet and comforter, then try to smooth out and smash the "wrinkles" in the bed. Then I "discover" that its her under the covers, so I uncover her head and we give each other Eskimo kisses. The other night after our ritual, she sighed and said "I love Eskimo kisses!" and my heart almost burst with love and thankfulness for my sweet girl!
Andrew
His two bottom teeth are in, but the newest development is that he's back to fighting, fighting, fighting sleep. He doesn't want to go to sleep at naptime or bedtime. We are back to bouncing him to get him sleepy (thankfully I finally remembered to take the exercise ball to his room, so now I can bounce and sit which is much easier then standing), and doing the "bottom jiggle" to get him to sleep once he's in bed. But then he'll start to kick his legs which wakes him up, then up pops his head and then he's sitting up and wailing. I just remembered yesterday that I used to strap him into the carrier and bounce/walk him until he got tired - I need to try that again. He's also waking up in the night, but mostly will go back to sleep if its the middle of the night, but after 5:45ish, all bets are off. I try to not nurse him until after 5 am, which works out most nights. Andrew has also been biting on and off as he's been cutting his new teeth - OW! OW! OW!
He's crawling faster and faster these days, but the big kids' favorite trick is when he pulls up and then balances on his knees without holding onto anything. The big kids will clap for him when they notice him doing that.
In the car
We just finished up On the Banks of Plumb Creek by Laura Ingles Wilder (Book 3 of the series) and started On the Shores of Silver Lake.
Brian
On vacation this week. He started the week off with hanging curtain hardware in the kitchen, building the black cabinets for the family room entertainment wall and replacing the thermostats in the house. Granddad came over for the day to help him finish raising the garage door to accommodate the four post lift he ordered for the garage, then they started assembling the lift. The plan is to stack the Oldsmobile over the M5 so that I can get the van in the garage for winter. Nana came over as well to play with Sarah and put Andrew to sleep for me (she worked her magic for both naps and at bedtime!). He's also still trying to decide what he wants to do about the new garage - do we build an addition on the house or just go straight to a free-standing shop?
Katie
I'm feeling worn out because of Andrews current fussing/teething/sleeping situation, plus I'm not getting to bed early enough to account for all his night wakings and early mornings. But I did go out to lunch with Katie B and Robyn since Brian was off to keep the kids... I can't remember the last time I've done that! And today I got to run more errands while Nana was keeping Sarah and Andrew. My current "to do" list includes: hemming curtains in the family room and kitchen, Halloween costumes for the kids, figure out clothes for family pictures, decide what color to paint the powder room and the thrifted bench in family room, decide on a plan for new furniture and rug in the family room, catch up on photos and the blog, and figure out birthday plans/presents/parties/cards for the kids plus extended family.
Monday, October 5, 2015
First Tooth Fussing
Unfortunately this is how life's been on and off for the past few weeks. Teething and bad naps (which I assume are related) have turned our amazingly good-natured boy into a fussy Gus during parts of the day. In fact for the past four days Andrew's only taken one nap a day, which is just not enough to keep him good tempered.
One tooth in and the second bottom tooth should cut through any day, then hopefully we will have a bit of a break before any more make their appearance!
Wednesday, September 30, 2015
Back Porch Photos (Part 1)
We are LOVING eating dinner on the back porch of our new house. Its so private and quiet, just the sound of the cicadas to serenade us. We've had lots of family and some friends over to eat, but last week Nana and Granddad had the great idea to snap a few family pictures after dinner. And we got some good ones!
Monday, September 28, 2015
The McDonald Clan 2015
Uncle James came down from Chicago for a visit a few weekends ago and we had a blast hanging out with him. It was the first time for a picture with all eight of us!
If only Sarah hadn't had that piece of candy in her mouth...
Wednesday, September 9, 2015
August iPhone Photos (Part 2)
On Nathan's first day of school, we came home and for lunch Sarah wanted a "jelly sandwich" (with sunflower seed butter). And she wanted to make it! I just usually make lunches for the kids because its easier, but I know I need to start handing over more responsibility to them. This is a start!
I thought we'd implement a "first day of school" treat, and maybe turn it into a tradition... doughnuts!! We got to do it again later in the month on Sarah's first day of school, but I seem to have accidentally deleted that picture when trying to make space on my phone... oops!
On Friday (either the first or second week of school), Brian was working late so we stopped by Nana and Granddad's house for a visit after school. I love that they live so close to school so we can drop by for a visit (and some days they've picked up Nathan and then come over for dinner!) But this day we ended up spending the whole afternoon at their house playing games and coloring, and then decided to grab dinner at a restaurant together. I wasn't quite prepared so all Andrew had for dinner was cheerios, but he was plenty happy about that!
Grumpy day...
The booster highchair that Andrew uses has a detachable (and dishwasher safe) top portion of the tray. He was constantly reaching for the far edge, detaching it from the base part of the try and sometimes even throwing it on the ground! I finally realized that trying to keep the tray attached was a losing battle and put the top away, and now I have the fun job of washing the big tray by hand... and I am one that avoids doing dishes by hand at all cost (inefficient, I feel, which is why I'm dreaming of the day I have two dishwashers in the kitchen to keep up with all the dirty dishes I create).
I finally realized that Andrew was old enough and stable enough to ride in the basket of the cart. He's much happier there then he ever was in the carrier on my back, but Sarah isn't thrilled because she still thinks SHE should be able to ride in that seat. Now that Nathan's in school, we usually run our errands right after we drop him off, and can usually fit in one or two stops before we have to take Sarah to school or come home for naptime.
Look! A picture of the inside of our house! This is the family room, where most of our living goes on. Its also the only room that has had anything done to it - the art and curtains are new since moving into this house. But since the picture is way overexposed its hard to see. Anyway things are moving slowly, but they are moving!
More pool pictures. This expression cracks me up!
Not enough pictures with me in it, so I took a whole bunch until I found a flattering angle for me. :)
The boys and I were playing while Sarah was napping one day. Then, to their delight, Princess came to join the fun! Nathan loves to play Rummikub these days and is amazingly good at it. He can legitimately beat me!
Watch out Princess!!
I thought we'd implement a "first day of school" treat, and maybe turn it into a tradition... doughnuts!! We got to do it again later in the month on Sarah's first day of school, but I seem to have accidentally deleted that picture when trying to make space on my phone... oops!
On Friday (either the first or second week of school), Brian was working late so we stopped by Nana and Granddad's house for a visit after school. I love that they live so close to school so we can drop by for a visit (and some days they've picked up Nathan and then come over for dinner!) But this day we ended up spending the whole afternoon at their house playing games and coloring, and then decided to grab dinner at a restaurant together. I wasn't quite prepared so all Andrew had for dinner was cheerios, but he was plenty happy about that!
Grumpy day...
The booster highchair that Andrew uses has a detachable (and dishwasher safe) top portion of the tray. He was constantly reaching for the far edge, detaching it from the base part of the try and sometimes even throwing it on the ground! I finally realized that trying to keep the tray attached was a losing battle and put the top away, and now I have the fun job of washing the big tray by hand... and I am one that avoids doing dishes by hand at all cost (inefficient, I feel, which is why I'm dreaming of the day I have two dishwashers in the kitchen to keep up with all the dirty dishes I create).
I finally realized that Andrew was old enough and stable enough to ride in the basket of the cart. He's much happier there then he ever was in the carrier on my back, but Sarah isn't thrilled because she still thinks SHE should be able to ride in that seat. Now that Nathan's in school, we usually run our errands right after we drop him off, and can usually fit in one or two stops before we have to take Sarah to school or come home for naptime.
Look! A picture of the inside of our house! This is the family room, where most of our living goes on. Its also the only room that has had anything done to it - the art and curtains are new since moving into this house. But since the picture is way overexposed its hard to see. Anyway things are moving slowly, but they are moving!
More pool pictures. This expression cracks me up!
Not enough pictures with me in it, so I took a whole bunch until I found a flattering angle for me. :)
The boys and I were playing while Sarah was napping one day. Then, to their delight, Princess came to join the fun! Nathan loves to play Rummikub these days and is amazingly good at it. He can legitimately beat me!
Watch out Princess!!
Tuesday, September 1, 2015
Andrew's First Day of Crawling!
I saw him scooting his knees for the first time yesterday afternoon and was able to capture a quick video of his first crawl. He's definitely making forward progress, pretty slow at this point but I'm sure that the days of Andrew staying in one place will soon be a distant memory!
Now the "fun" begins - trying to keep this house safe for him with two older siblings who love Legos, markers, scissors and a multiplicity of other small and/or sharp objects.
Now the "fun" begins - trying to keep this house safe for him with two older siblings who love Legos, markers, scissors and a multiplicity of other small and/or sharp objects.
Saturday, August 29, 2015
August Ordinary Days (Part 1)
So with settling into the new house, a baby with a completely unpredictable schedule and a new school year, I have been feeling a bit overwhelmed with life. Add to those things my re-commitment to getting to bed earlier plus trying to be more productive around the house at night plus trying to spend less time on the computer to facilitate my other goals, the blog has been sadly neglected. But I just waded through most of my phone photos so here is a quick peek at life from the past month...
We are still REALLY enjoying our new pool, especially when Daddy gets to swim with us. We all agree that Daddy is WAY more fun then Mommy in the pool!
Brian had a week ofvacation house projects and "honey-do's" earlier in the month. We did spend one day in the mountains (pictures may or may not be forthcoming), but Nana and Granddad helped us cross one big project crossed off our list: re-contouring the yard, adding topsoil in strategic places and laying sod.
This is at the end of the driveway where the water was heading downhill and collecting around the pool deck. Brian and David, along with two sporadic helpers, tilled up this section of yard and reshaped to send water through the yard around the end of the pool.
When we bought the house, the drive was lined with decomposing railway ties, so we had those hauled off and filled in the gap with topsoil. Hey, this might be the first picture of the new house on the blog!
The next day was sod-laying...
Ooooo, how pretty!
Cudding!
Nathan rigged up a "lock" for his bedroom door.
Goofing off with the camera...
And more pool time...
We are still REALLY enjoying our new pool, especially when Daddy gets to swim with us. We all agree that Daddy is WAY more fun then Mommy in the pool!
Brian had a week of
This is at the end of the driveway where the water was heading downhill and collecting around the pool deck. Brian and David, along with two sporadic helpers, tilled up this section of yard and reshaped to send water through the yard around the end of the pool.
When we bought the house, the drive was lined with decomposing railway ties, so we had those hauled off and filled in the gap with topsoil. Hey, this might be the first picture of the new house on the blog!
The next day was sod-laying...
Ooooo, how pretty!
Cudding!
Nathan rigged up a "lock" for his bedroom door.
Goofing off with the camera...
And more pool time...
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